“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. God has made everything beautiful in its time.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, 11
Something I had to learn and relearn over and over again is that God is a God of process. Yes, He is faithful and His Words do not return to Him void; yet, He is also a God who declares the end from the beginning, and therefore, when He says something, He is speaking an end-result into existence. From the time He releases a promise to the time that it manifests in the physical realm is the process that will naturally happen IN ITS TIME. It doesn't say IN GOD'S TIME, but IN ITS TIME, which means that things need to take its natural course.
God is not time-bound. Past, present, and future are one for Him because He sees all of them as one. We don't see things this way. We live in an earthly realm that is bound by time.
When God releases a promise, this promise is a done deal in the spiritual realm. What we don't see because of our limited vision and understanding is the process from the spiritual to the natural. We keep waiting and waiting, not knowing that everything is a process with God ... a process that is not time-bound.
It is amazing how the Word of God reveals to us the secrets to His Kingdom, including this "process" that we can't comprehend because of our limited and carnal understanding.
Let me bring you to Isaiah 55 ... the same chapter where we find the verses: "My word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
Oh how I love those verses. I've been standing on that WORD for years when I am claiming for and believing a promise from God. I've used that Scripture over and over again to speak things into existence. Yet, there was no single time when I spoke that Word and God's promise came to pass right there and then. In fact, all His promises to me took a while to materialize. Still, I kept going back to that Scripture each time I've claimed for something from Him, almost like pressuring Him to fulfill what He did say in His Word.
It was an incident not too long ago that brought me back to those verses in Isaiah 55. This time around, the Lord opened my eyes to see the bigger picture.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater ... " Isaiah 55:8-10
His thoughts are not our thoughts; His ways not our ways. This just explains why we will never understand this "process" based on our own thoughts and ways. He then begins to explain that His thoughts and ways are higher than ours'. What comes next blew my mind. It's not as if I haven't seen this Scripture before. It's just that God's Spirit finally opened my eyes to see it.
"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater ..." This verse is followed by "so shall My word be that goes out of my mouth ..."
This is the process that God is explaining to us. This is what "IN ITS TIME" means.
When He gives a promise and releases a Word, whether it is through the Bible or through a prophet, it goes through a process similar to rain or snow that comes down from heaven and waters the earth, making the seed sprout. This is a natural process that no one can speed up or force to happen. Nobody plants a seed and makes that seed grow on his own efforts. Yes you can water and fertilize the seed, but it will go through its own natural process of growing and bearing fruits. Yes you can watch and wait for it to grow but you won't sit there everyday waiting. You will go about your other duties until one day you see a sign of birth ... a little leaf coming out. Then you have to wait again. It goes on and on.
This is the process of waiting based on God's perspective. It is a natural process that happens IN ITS TIME.
Only when you begin to understand and embrace this process will you be able to enjoy and embrace every waiting season, until you reach a point when you don't feel like you're waiting anymore because every step is intertwined and connected.
If you know someone who needs to read this ...
Click any or all of the social media shares below.